The odonate mating system, communication, and sexual selection: A review

Abstract

In the odonate mating system, communication comprises (a) a visual and (b) a tactile stage. Visual communication is confined to male-male competitive interactions and to courtship display. The stage of tactile communication is initiated-by tandem linkage. Following mainly Eberhard’s (1985) hypothesis of rapid and divergent evolution of sex-involved traits, I here develop the idea that communication devices in the odonate mating process are an important target of sexual selection. Implications of sexual selection to these devices are briefly reviewed and their operating as potential reproductive isolating mechanisms is discussed. © 1993 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.